Incentives aimed at helping Illinois land data centers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Digital data must be stored somewhere. Illinois lawmakers want it stored here.

Legislation on Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk creates economic incentives for developers to build enormous data centers storing digital information for companies large and small.

Thirty states, including Indiana and Iowa, offer data-center inducements. Dixon Republican Rep. Tom Demmer says neighboring states’ incentives have cost Illinois the chance to land large-scale developments.

A data center is a facility that centralizes an organization’s information technology equipment and stores data.

Beneficiaries would have to invest $250 million over five years. Tyler Diers of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says the biggest incentive is a 20-year sales tax exemption for purchasing equipment from computer servers to heating and cooling.

The bill is SB690.

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